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Contact: Liz Carroll
Phone: 413/775-1420
E-mail: carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: December 27, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Making connections helps GCC retain new students

One of the new "accountability standards” by which the state Board of Higher Education is judging the performance of two- and four-year state colleges is retention: how many new students complete their first semester and return for the next? According to national research on the topic of student retention, the first year is the most critical timeframe in the progression toward a college degree. Just ask Scott Tirrell, who lives in Greenfield. Back in 1985, fresh out of high school, he enrolled in Greenfield Community College. "I went to the first couple of classes and never went back,” recalls Tirrell. "I wasn't a good student in high school, and I didn't think I could make it in college either. I just dropped out.”

Last August, Tirrell, now 38, participated in a new program called the College Connection, developed by GCC faculty and staff members Scott Melanson, Dawn Stevenson and Lynn McDonald. It's designed to allay fears and anxieties, and provide new students with the resources, and friends, that lead to a successful college experience. "GCC wants to tell the community that we're serious about working with first-year students coming into college,” says Lynn McDonald, Tech Prep Coordinator. "We're concerned about all students and we want to give them the tools to be successful as they begin their college careers.”

It worked for Scott Tirrell, who is now "pulling As” in both of the courses he signed up for this past fall. What's more, he has achieved that despite being legally blind, with 10% of his eyesight. "I didn't know if I was going to be comfortable (at GCC), going up and down all those stairs,” says Tirrell. "But then I learned a back way to get in. I didn't think I would get enough help there, but there is so much help there. I ended up finding new tools that the handicapped use with computers, which I never had 20 years ago. It changed my life as a student.”

"Try to remember…”, as the song goes, the last time you were faced with something new. "Once you take yourself out of a comfort zone,” says Christina Stone, 19, of South Deerfield, "things definitely seem overwhelming.”

"I never knew anything about college, and I was real nervous,” recalls Bevely Maldonedo, 20, of Greenfield.

"I didn't know that you could go to a teacher's office and have a conference,” says Stone.

"I didn't know if I could handle college or fit in, being older,” recalls Tirrell. "I'd been out of school 19 years.”

"If you recall when you went away to college for the first time, or started a new job, you probably thought, ‘Oh, it's so scary,” says McDonald. Co-instructors Melanson and Stevenson attacked those anxieties with an array of information and experiences that bonded the disparate group.

"They gave us resources and information about the college and who to talk to for what,” says Maldonedo. "We learned about Financial Aid, where to go to apply and how the process works. We learned about the Career Resource Center, and how they could help us finding a major. We learned about the Peer Tutoring Center and the Library. We had a lot of guests come in and talk to us. They gave us tours of the college.”

In the afternoons, fun was on of the agenda. (They call it experiential education.) "We did a lot of activities together,” says Maldonedo. "We climbed the rocks in the GCC Rock Park and did some activities where, for instance, we would stand on something high and we had to stay real stiff and then fall back. We had to trust the people behind us to catch us. We hiked up Sugarloaf Mountain.”

"Some of the students walked with others that were having a little bit harder time climbing this mountain,” says McDonald, "and maybe helped carry a backpack or offered water. That was really nice to see. These students became quicker friends.”

Friendships, it turns out, are key to college success. One of the most important outcomes of their participation in the College Connection, according to the students interviewed for this story, were the friends they made.

"I was more concerned about not knowing anybody,” says Jennifer Canon, 27, of Colrain. "One of the reasons I took it was to get to know some people before actually going to class.”

"Just to be able to have a friendly face to walk up to in the hallway,” echoed Stone, "just to know someone.”

"There's one girl (from the College Connection) that has been in three of my classes and we're real strong friends now,” says Maldonedo. "That's definitely helped.”

It's not just a social thing; friendships contribute to academic success. "It's a form of support,” explains McDonald. "If you know somebody that has things in common with you, you're more willing to ask students to maybe form a study group, and discuss things after class.”

"If someone's having a problem in class, you can just go up to them as ask, ‘What do you think about this?' says Stone. "I know a few of the people were having a really hard time with the math class and we were all pitching in and helping to figure out a math problem before that class or during lunch. And it was just so cool that we all felt comfortable enough to do that.”

Twenty-four out of the 25 students who entered the College Connection last August completed the free two-week program, earning two credits before the semester formally commenced. While the first-semester statistics have not yet been tallied for participants of the program, their success rate seems to be high. All four students interviewed for this story say they are coming back for the spring semester.

"I just signed up for my spring classes today,” confirmed Canon. "I know for myself that it eased my way into GCC.”

"They made it seem like (college) wasn't really that bad, and it wasn't!” agrees Maldonedo. "At the end of the program, instead of being nervous, I was actually excited to start because I already knew what to expect. They made me feel real comfortable.”

"In high school, teachers used to threaten us by saying, ‘In college, nobody's going to help you out. No one's going to care,'” says Stone. "The College Connection really instilled the thought that, at GCC, they do care. I just knew after taking that class that GCC was the best college for me.”

The College Connection will be offered again in August 2005. To sign up, you need to make a formal application to GCC. For more information, call Lynn McDonald at 413-775-1815.